The Greyhound Sanctuary is a small charity based in the West Country. Established in 2007 our main aim is to rescue and rehome abandoned, abused or unwanted greyhounds.

We have the use of some kennels at Kinnings Farm Boarding kennels. However, we are only a very small charity and so are unable to take in many dogs. Please would you consider offering one of our greyhounds a home so that it will create a space for another needy dog. This will be an additional place of safety either for greyhounds for rehoming, or, if that is not possible, somewhere for them to spend the rest of their lives in peace.d

WHY DO WE RESCUE?

A QUESTION OFTEN ASKED

Dogs like Minnie are one of the reasons. Minnie, an 11 year old female greyhound, in the terrible conditions she was being kept in. This dog was found in the UK along with several others. Minnie is now in a great home.

These are the others:

Tens of thousands of dogs are disposed of every year by the British greyhound racing industry – because they fail to make the grade as racers or when their racing days are over.

About 25,000 greyhound pups are registered every year in the British Isles. The number bred is actually many thousands more than this, when taking into account pups that never get registered and those killed by breeders at a very young age.

Although most of these dogs are bred in Ireland, the majority are produced to supply the demands of the British greyhound racing industry. Thousands of greyhound pups and young dogs are put to death because they fail to reach racing standards. It is estimated that over 10,000 are killed annually in the British Isles.

Dogs which actually make it to the track are very likely to experience suffering during their racing careers. It has been estimated that greyhounds running on British tracks sustain more than 12,000 injuries every year and that 10% of dogs that race are already suffering from injuries. Injured toes, torn muscles, strained tendons and arthritic joints are commonplace.

At least 10,000 greyhounds ‘retire’ from racing in Britain every year, at an average age of just 2½ years old. This is either because of injury or because they are adjudged to be no longer good enough to race. Very few of these dogs manage to find good homes. This is hardly surprising, given a situation where many thousands of ordinary dogs are put to sleep every year because no homes are available for them.

Many ex-racing greyhounds are simply abandoned and a large number are killed, sometimes by extremely cruel methods such as drowning or poisoning, because some owners and trainers are not prepared to pay the cost of having them put to sleep by a vet. Many are abandoned on roads risking injury or death from passing traffic, remote areas such as moors where they starve to death or left in sheds in the dark day after day with no warmth, little food and living on hard concrete floors.

The Greyhound Sanctuary tries to help the dire situation in Ireland by working with Irish Greyhound rescues. Whenever possible the charity will try to react to a plea for help however it is simply not always possible because of a lack of space.

We desperately need to rehome the dogs we rescue and rehabilitate and need all the help we can get to do this. Every time a dog is rehomed, it leaves space for another who is just waiting patiently for someone to give it a life.